


only targaryens ride dragons

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Book: The World of Ice and Fire, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 21:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13109130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A collection of drabbles about Rhaenyra Targaryen's three eldest sons Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey, who were rumoured to be the children of Harwin String and not Rhaenyra's husband, Laenor Velaryon.Our uncle calls us Strongs, and claims we are bastards, but when the lords see us on dragonback they will know that for a lie. Only Targaryens ride dragons - Jacaerys (The Princess and the Queen)





	1. children fight // rhaenyra & her sons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aemond was older, stronger, and crueler than Lucerys—and he hated Lucerys with a passion, for it was Lucerys who had cost him his eye nine years earlier. (TWOIAF)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of nowhere, I started getting really emotional about these kids and so I thought I might as well write for them! I do believe that they are Harwin Strong's children and not Laenor's but I really don't care - if anyone would listen (no one does, lucky them!) I would rant for days about them.
> 
> Also, I write some weird stuff around Christmas time, don't I?
> 
> EDIT: I wrote this chapter not having read 'The Rouge Prince'. In TWOIAF the scene where the fight between the boys occurs is different from what is said to have happened in TRP, just so you know!

When Rhaenyra and Daemon get to her father's solar her sons are already there, with Alicent bloody Hightower and her devilish son, Aemond.

Alicent seemed to be questioning them, rather unfairly and harshly, even little Joff who was all of three. Upon noticing them entering, Alicent raises her brows. "It is good to see you have decided to arrive."

"Be quiet women, else you'll regret -" Rhaenyra begins, rage taking over. She puts a hand to her swollen belly, vowing that as soon as her babe is born she shall show Alicent why annoying her isn't something she should do again.

But her father cuts in. "I knew the two of you didn't get along before but this...it's madness. Alicent, Aemond slapped young Joff and broke poor Luke's nose. Rhaenyra, gods, Luke, he took a knife to Aemond's eye."

At the same time, Rhaenyra and Alicent start to argue but, once again, Viserys stops it.

"Sit, both of you, you too Daemon. We've much to discuss," he tells them, somehow calm. "Let the boys tell us what happened - Joff, tell us what happened."

Her young son trembles then, and Luke puts a hand on his shoulder. Joff takes a deep breath, looking so brave, and begins, "I was feeding Vhagar and then Aemond...he came over to me and slapped me...I shouted for Jace and Luke and they came and were all fighting when the guards came."

Jace and Luke nod in agreement at that but Aemond huffs. Rhaenyra tries not to look at the bandage over his left eye.

"And Lucerys stabbed my son in the eye," Alicent says, outraged. "Those three boys came upon him, one against three!" She was being overly dramatic on purpose, Rhaenyra knew.

"Perhaps your son shouldn't have slapped a boy little older than a babe." Daemon says, defending her sons. Daemon was more a father to her sons than ever Laenor was...or Harwin, but that is neither here nor there.

Alicent glares at him as though he was dirt on her favourite polished shoes. "There was no need for your son to have a knife, let alone use it against another child."

Before her father can think of some calming thing to say, Rhaenyra defends her son, "Lucerys often cuts meat for the dragons actually, and I'd say precious little Aemond is lucky only Lucerys had a knife. Jace has been learning to throw them," she adds, more to scare them than anything because while Jace had tried it once with Daemon it had been for fun and only happened once.

"You are mad," Alicent tells her, "and you've passed it on to your sons." Rhaenyra merely shrugs her shoulders, Daemon even laughing.

Her father has decided he's had enough. "My sweet Alicent, you must know that Aemond had such an advantage over young Joff. But Rhaenyra, you must teach Luke that using a knife on someone is wrong, and Jace, elder though he is, never tried to stop him."

There is a silence, an uncomfortable one, but her father doesn't notice.

"Boys, surely you have more sense than your mothers," he japes to them. One another day it may well have been funny but when Jace has a cut lip and cheek, Luke a broken nose, Joff a bright red face and teary eyes and even Aemond, little monster though he is, was lacking an eye, the Jake wasn't so funny.

Jace speaks up first and as he is often wife, her father nods, smiling. "All I did was defend my brother," Jace says, causing the smile to leave his grandfather's face, "and I wonder what may have happened if Luke didn't have his knife, how badly might Joff be hurt? Aemond knows not what mercy is, I fear."

Had ever Rhaenyra felt so proud? Here is Jace sat before the king and queen - stupid and cruel though she is, Alicent still wore a crown - keeping to his beliefs. She prays he is so protective of the babe now in her belly.

"But Jace, you do understand that what Luke did was wrong, yes?" Her father asks, looking close to giving up.

Her eldest shakes his head. "If it were another who slapped Joff you would be congratulating Luke for defending our brother."

"You and Aemond are blood though, and Luke and Joff too, surely you understand that harming your blood is wrong." Viserys seemed to be at wits end, really.

"That didn't stop Aemond," Luke says, joining his elder brother's cause, putting an arm around Joff, who wipes his tears.

"Well said, Luke," Daemon says, standing up, causing Alicent to do the same, as though he would slap her like her son - sent from the Seventh Hell that he was - did Joff. "Surely if we were in such a situation you would want me to do the same as Luke, Viserys?"

Viserys stutters at that. "Yes, of course, but...Luke is only five and Aemond ten...for them to be so cruel so young...worries me, is all."

" _'Worry only for what warrants it'_ is that not what our grandsire King Jaehaerys said once?" Daemon asks even though he obviously knows the answer. He holds out his arm for Rhaenyra to hold on to, after helping her stand.

"Daemon...Rhaenyra, please discipline your son. Alicent and I shall do the same. We willll speak later, all of us, once our heads are clear."

Rhaenyra nods to him, "As you say, father. Come, boys."

Her husband too bows his head to the king. "Children are such odd creatures, are they not?" Viserys just shakes his head before turning to Alicent, who looks ready to scream.

Once they're in the corridor Luke turns to them. "I swear we told it true, mother. Joff did nothing wrong, he was feeding Vhagar, petting him too, and Aemond started shouting about Vhagar being his dragon and -"

"We know, my son. Only a fool would believe Alicent and her devil of a son," Rhaenyra tells them, causing Jace to laugh, the others following suit. "Now, might we bathe you lot? You smell awful."

"No we don't!" Luke argues, though he grins. "Do we, Daemon?"

"Absolutely not," Daemon agrees with Luke, making the boys smile at him, Jace sticking his tongue out at Rhaenyra. _If only it could always be like this_ , Rhaenyra thinks, why did her father have to be such a fool and his wife such a schemer, their second son a monster.


	2. the north is loyal // jacaerys & cregan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, Prince Jacaerys flew north on his dragon, calling upon Lady Arryn of the Vale, Lord Manderly of White Harbor, Lord Borrell and Lord Sunderland of Sisterton, and Cregan Stark of Winterfell. So charming was the prince, and so fearsome his dragon, that each of the lords he visited pledged their support for his mother. (TWOIAF)

Vermax is entirely unaffected by the cold but Jacaerys isn't so fortunate. True, he is half Targaryen (no matter what else, whose blood he also has too, he is a Targaryen) but even fires go out after being frozen.

Winterfell, for being right in the middle of the North, is warm enough that he takes off one of his layers before meeting with Lord Rickon in the castle's Great Hall.

Jacaerys feels so small once in the room with all these older, harsher men, and he's itching to fly off on Vermax again, but he needs to show the word the truth, that his mother's claim is the true one, the only one.

Lord Rickon's heir does most of the talking as the lord himself is aging and apparently ill. Cregan Stark is tall, broad and dark haired like Jace, but that's about all they had in common. Stark was perhaps five years elder than him and had was already practically the lord, with his father being ill for so long.

And, as Jace learns soon, he has a sister. His mother so wanted a little girl, Jace knew. Cregan Stark's sister was natural born, though. _Little Jace Strong_ , that's what Aemond used to tease him with constantly...he wasn't a bastard, nor were his brothers.

"Are you free to wed?" Cregan asks him and for one bizarre moment Jace thinks he is asking so as to wed Jace himself.

"No, I've been betrothed to my half-sister Rhaena since we were babes," Jace tells him and sees him nod.

Cregan says, "Well, that is the Targaryen way, isn't it? Surely not all your brothers are promised too?"

Jace shakes his head. "Luke- Lucerys is but Joffrey, Aegon and Viserys aren't."

"If you are to win this war, what titles and lands should you and your brothers get?" Cregan questions. He wants to make sure they are powerful enough, doesn't he?

"When my mother, Queen Rhaenyra, wins her rightful throne I shall be named Crown Prince and have Dragonstone until mother passes. And Lucerys is heir to Driftmark. My younger brothers' titles haven't yet been formalised, unfortunately."

"If I wish to marry a daughter of mine or my line to a son of yours, or perhaps a Stark lad and Targaryen Princess, I need to ensure they have enough honours that the match is not foolish," Cregan tells him, his father nodding along with him. "The first son of yours shall surely sit the throne one day. A king is a worthy match for a Stark, we are descended of the First Men and saved the world from a night longer than time itself."

Mother warned me they would be dramatic. Yet, there was something else Jace would speak on, not these mythical tales that the Northerners apparently took for fact. "Not just a son, my lord, but any firstborn child of mine shall one day sit the throne. Once she becomes Queen, my mother hopes to change succession rules."

"Your mother wishes much," Cregan says in an odd tone. Does he mean that as an insult?

"Queen Rhaenyra hopes to change this world, and it really is in need of some changes. Does she have the Starks of Winterfell on her side or not?" Jace asks, feeling as though he is Daemon's son and more a Targaryen than ever, his brown hair and eyes be damned.

Cregan Stark nods, looking somewhat proud. Lord Rickon stands, using his cane made of weirwood. "Queen Rhaenyra has the support of not only the Starks but the whole of the North, from Greywater Watch to Skagos."

Jace nods, more than happy with what he has done, and thanks the men. He doesn't bend the knee, he takes care not to, for he is the prince. Not Rickon or Cregan. _We have the Starks_ , he writes to Daemon (not his mother for she was heavy with child when he left and likely not feeling all that well), _and they shall stay loyal to us until time ends._


End file.
